Living As A Shadow
by oRpheusB20
Summary: Kind of my thoughts about what's going on with a Pokemon when it going into Hyper/Reverse Mode in Colosseum/XD. Wanted to make this since I recently beat Colosseum and have moved onto XD, and this came to me.
**My thoughts on what's going through a Shadow Pokémon's mind when they enter Hyper Mode/Reverse Mode.**

 **I recently beat Colosseum for probably the first time, though I may have successfully beat it when I was a kid. I don't remember, my memory's a tad fuzzy in that area, though I do remember battling in Deep Colosseum.**

* * *

Her new trainer called for another use of her Shadow attack. Not a shock, the guy didn't seem know what else she could do. But man did it ache!

No, it didn't ache.

It _burned._

It hurt like nothing else to use that move that was forced upon her when she was stripped of her trust of humans.

The new trainer seemed to show some concern for her every time that she used it, so maybe that was some sort of consolation prize. For such a tough looking guy, he was quite friendly.

However, that did very little to help.

Yes, he was gentle, but that didn't excuse the fact that he insisted she use a move that harmed her when she had many other moves in her arsenal. She knew that he was aware of those moves, too. She had fought venomously against him with everything she had to take him down, as she had learned to do while they stripped her of her trust. Man, was she surprised to find that he could steal her from her former jailer. She was even more shocked when the first thing that he did upon releasing her from her new container was gently pat her head in a comforting manner.

She tried to summon the power to utilize the Shadow move once again. But, wait, why the hell was she listening to a dumb human? She hated humans, they were the reason she was in so much pain to begin with!

Negative pent-up emotions bubbled up within her and threatened to consume her entirely. Her recently gained dark aura turned even darker, turning her form into nothing but a silhouette by comparison to those few that could see it.

The battle continued around her. The trainer called out for the Pokémon that was battling alongside her, an Espeon, to use a move on one of their opponents. The cat-like Eevee evolution performed it with a practiced ease and knocked out the Sandslash he had been aiming at. The boy didn't order her to attack, though. Or did he? She was so focused on the anger and pain that she didn't even realize what she was doing.

She almost attacked blindly at whatever was in her way, but stopped when she heard something calling out to her. "-aze!"

She stopped.

It happened again.

"-laze!"

She cringed and ducked her head, covering her ears with her paws. Why was he calling out to her with that stupid nickname he insisted upon using?

She already knew how this would go. He would build up her trust as much as possible, and then take it, and stomp it into the dust. That's what the first guys did. She hadn't been stuck with the second guy she had been handed off to long enough to know if he would do so too. But he certainly wasn't a pleasant fellow, she knew that much.

He continued calling out. She refused to listen, until she felt something poke her.

Gently. Only trying to get her attention.

Emotions controlling her, she lashed out, catching the poor creature with a Shadow Rush. She felt no satisfaction from the act, though. It ate away at her like it always did, and the Espeon hadn't wronged her. He had finished the fight while she had been trying to deal with her inner turmoil.

The Espeon naturally looked hurt, on the outside and the inside, but ultimately understanding. He stood back as his trainer approached.

The poor Shadow Pokémon hissed and backed away in fright. The trainer was unmoved by this display and moved closer. He got down on one knee and reached forward.

She backed away, but he caught her before she could get out of his reach. He dragged her forward somewhat before lifting her up. She was at least a third of his height, and probably twice the weight of the most that he ever picked up, and yet he moved her with ease into a cradling position and rocked her back and forth in a comforting manner, whispering soft words, ensuring her that everything was going to be alright, and that there was nothing to fear.

She tried to remove herself from his grasp, but he held her there with a firm grasp. The Espeon might have been using some sort of psychic ability as well, to keep her struggles from being too fierce.

Eventually, the struggles ceases, and she just sat there, unmoving. He continued his comforting words and rocking. Slowly, her dark, murderous aura receded.

'Why?' She wanted to yell so much, but found that she couldn't. She knew that he wouldn't understand her anyway. The Pokémon that the Espeon claimed was the boy's first snag, who he decided to name 'Friend' for some stupid reason, maybe he just wasn't good with names, demanded not long after he had been snagged, before he had stolen any other Pokémon, in fact, that his new owner hand over a berry, presumably so he could take it and run away with it, so he would have something to fall back on if he ran into a trainer that wanted to fight him.

The boy had recognized the threatening body language, but was unable to understand what was going on, ultimately, so he called upon his cat-like friend to defuse the situation.

Espeon claimed that he had been rather disappointed in Friend, as the trainer had only been trying to help him. Friend had simply grunted in annoyance when she had brought the incident up later in his presence to inquire about it.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, though she tried to keep them contained. The last thing she wanted was for the boy to see her with tears on her face. Who knows how he might react. "I don't understand," she whimpered, finally regaining her voice.

"What do you not understand?" The Espeon asked, calm, with as much understanding as one could have without actually going through the ordeal of being a Shadow.

"Why?"

"'Why' what?"

"Why does he insist on building trust?!" She yelled in a rage that threatened to reawaken the evil aura. A few tears managed to slip past her, making her rage filled, tear stricken appearance more appropriate to how she felt on the inside. Angry and bitter, but really just hurt and broken.

"He desires to help."

"But why would he help?"

"Not all humans are bad."

"Every one that I've been forced to interact has a desire to see me in pain!"

"This one is holding you, and comforting you. Do you think he bares any ill will towards any creature besides the ones that seek to harm you?"

She sniffled miserably. "N-no."

"See? You don't have to trust him with your life. Not yet. But you can trust him with the fact that he will try to make things better."

Upon hearing that, she decided that maybe she wouldn't wear her emotions on her sleeve, but maybe she'll at least allow herself to show some if she needed to.

* * *

 **I'm not normally one for nicknames, but it works to conceal the identity of the Pokémon in question.**

 **For some reason, I feel compelled to keep the exact Pokémon and game a secret. If you notice, I didn't mention Rui, nor an Umbron alongside the Espeon, and since you can evolve your Eevee into an Espeon in XD, it makes it a tad bit difficult, right? Though, knowing me, I probably accidentally let something vital slip without realizing it. I will tell you one thing, though. It's not an Absol. I admit that's the one I originally modeled the Pokémon after, since in my game, Absol's female. Then I remembered that I have a Pokémon that's more precious to me in one of my two GameCube games, and is also female, so I said, 'Fuck it, I'm changing!' I also tried to keep it a secret at what point in the game it is, so, you know, it can be any Pokémon from the second snag to the final one. OK, maybe not the final one, but you get it.**

 **See if you can guess both!**

 **If I gave anything vital away that allows you to narrow the options significantly, let me know so I can fix it. I did drop a small hint that's kind of one or the other, but I'm not even sure you guys'll pick up on it.**


End file.
